Living a Creative Life

Catching Up – June 2018 Edition

I’m glad today is the last day of June. June isn’t my favorite month and this year proved to be extra difficult.

Jet died on June 17th between 6:18 – 7:40pm. I checked on him and then went to mow the easement and back yard. I came back in and David was up, and told me Jet was gone. I was glad he wasn’t suffering anymore but I really had a hope he would recover. When talking with coworkers about pets, I’ve caught myself still saying “I have 4 cats”. I bought a small Bast statue for him, as I did with our kitten Kali ,who died about 20 years ago. I didn’t realize it was so tiny when I bought it, but it’s now sitting up with Kali’s Bastet.

I’ve been sketching more this month. There’s been 2 outings to a nearby park, one demo at a friend’s coffee shop and today I’ll be driving to a farm about an hour away to sketch live chickens for World Sketch a Chicken Day. I don’t draw from live animals much. It’s such a challenge because they refuse to stay still. I’ve done gesture drawings of the corgis as they’re sleeping or chewing on their toys but they still move constantly. I may pack a bit more than my simple purse travel kit.

Oh, that reminds me… I simplified my travel kit a bit. Instead of a 12 half-pan Windsor & Newton travel palette, I used some blue poster tack and stuck 6 half pans (yellow, red, blue, burnt sienna, titan buff and yellow ocher) into a small tin, and cut down a make up sponge to fill up the rest of the tin. It’s been challenging since I have to mix my greens but I love that it’s so lightweight and takes up no room in my purse.

This was before I decided to add the ocher

I’m also geocaching more and will be in the next 3 weeks with the Hidden Creatures souvenirs going on currently. I’ve only managed to find Bigfoot but will sign some puzzle caches I have solved as I drive back into town from the farm chicken sketching outing. I have 65 puzzles solved (I honestly never thought I’d ever work puzzle caches!) and I made a list of all the 1/1 skirt lifters so I hope to hit my 100 mark quickly.

That’s my catch up for the rest of the month. There are a few other things, but I’m saving those for another post. Now I’ll decide what art supplies to pack today. Chicken Sketch Posts forthcoming!